Musician Jack Conte poured blood, sweat, tears and tons of time into making YouTube music videos to promote the songs his indie-rock duo Pomplamoose sold on iTunes. For a 3-minute, 45-second piece called "Pedals" last year, he put in 18-hour days for two months, flew in two robotics experts, and built a replica of the "Star Wars" Millennium Falcon cockpit. Similar efforts had garnered up to 1 million hits - and reaped a paltry $200 or so in ad revenue.

To continue reading this story, you will need to be a digital subscriber to SFChronicle.com.